Longtime comrade Metîn Arslan has been active within the Kurdistan Freedom Movement since the group stage of Apoyî and met Heval Sara (Sakine Canız) back in 1976. Metîn Arslan spoke to [Nûçe Ciwan] about his encounters with Heval Sara, highlighting her revolutionary qualities as a free woman and remembering her with us on the 10th anniversary of her assassination in Paris:
Despite being tortured, she did not say a word and put up great resistance
“I was with my friend Sara for many years and saw her once during the group stage when she came to Ankara. She came to Tuzluçayır and she also came to our neighborhood. If I remember correctly, it was 1976. Later, we were in prison together. She was already trapped in Elazığ. She was captured in the Great Elazığ Operation 79. She was the only friend there who resisted without saying a word. Despite all the tortures inflicted on her, she didn’t accept a word, didn’t say a word, although everyone testified to it. She put up great resistance. She was a friend who led all resistances in prison, especially during the brutal period.
She showed great heroism and resistance in the Amed torture prison
The female structure was different from ours. In Diyarbakır prison, they were held in a separate place where the male prisoners could not communicate. She alone directed and administered the entire women’s structure. If Sara had not been in this detachment, the enemy would have forced very serious confessions and betrayals. She had a maternal attitude that protected them all, kept them all under her wing, kept them from drifting, gave morale to all, gave strength to all, and kept all upright. She showed great heroism and resistance. So much so that she became the owner of an attitude that even the enemy respected, even the enemy had to keep their distance, had to be serious towards her.
Sara had a very strong self-discipline
We’ve worked together in Europe, we’ve been to Mexico together, we’ve been to the mountains together. Sara and I have a long history together. We have countless memories, of course we have memories. It would not be enough to tell you. There are too many things.
Sara was a friend with very strong self-discipline. Whether in prison, outdoors, in the chairman’s territory, in Europe or in the mountains, she played sports regularly. She was a friend who made her own daily schedule and followed it faithfully, who always lived by a schedule and lived an orderly life.
I would like to tell you something about her sensitive qualities: She was very careful about hygiene and discipline. She was extremely principled. She was a person who couldn’t and didn’t want to let go. Where Sara was, no one dared be careless. Where Sara was, you couldn’t be careless, you couldn’t be laissez-faire. She had no problem with political jokes, with social jokes, but you couldn’t show frivolity around Sara, she had discipline, she had a steady lifestyle. And she spread that around as much as possible. She was a friend with an extremely solid attitude that enjoined everyone to be serious, work seriously, focus on the task at hand and behave accordingly.
Heval Sara never let her friends down
One of Sara’s defining qualities was that she was very kind. She valued her friends very highly and never let them down. Especially when someone had a moral problem, when someone had a health problem, when someone faced difficulties, she would definitely help, support and lend a helping hand. She was a friend who never allowed herself to let her friends down, who wanted the one next to her to get stronger, who wanted them to get stronger, who struggled and made an effort for her.
Anyone who wants to get to know Heval Sara should read her book
Sara was a friend who did not tolerate lies and liars. She was such a strong personality. In the book My Life Was Always a Struggle, in which Sara spoke about herself, she undoubtedly described herself fully. She revealed everything. So if you want to get to know Sara, you should read Sara’s book. Like everyone else she made mistakes in her life, like everyone else she faced inadequacies, like everyone else she faced method problems, but Sara was a principled person, someone who stuck to her principles. She was a hard worker like a bee. She was always working, always running. She would never allow herself to waste her time for nothing. Nobody could get Sara to accept something like that.
Just a dozen women like Heval Sara can change the world
Friends like Sara aren’t easy to find, they don’t just come into the world. A dozen women like Sara could change the world.
It is absolutely necessary to renew. In this respect, like everyone else, she had a structure and a character that, like every revolutionary, enjoyed research, was analytical and capable of learning, open to innovation, new ideas and open to discussion.
Sara’s absence is palpable. The PKK with Sara and the PKK without Sara are very different. Sara was an outstanding figure in this organization. She is not a person whose void can easily be filled, she is a historical figure. She had a very noble bearing. She was a friend who watched her food, drink, physique and everything else. She never questioned the life discipline she introduced. She would do and live what she set out to do every day.
Before Heval Sara went to Europe she sensed what was going to happen
I will tell you one of my memories, we have a memory that still touches me deeply and still influences me. Sara wanted to go to Europe. Her organization was back and she didn’t want to leave. She came to me to ask me a favor and said “I’m going now”. I asked, “How are you?” She said: “I’ve ordered a car, I’ll go there, I’ll do my work there, I hope it works out this time.” They didn’t want to give her a visa. I said, “How can you ride with a driver, I won’t leave you alone, stop and make him wait, I’m coming.” I got dressed and we drove together. Just as she was about to apply for her visa, Sara said, “I lost my passport.” She had to apply with her passport so she could do her job. At that moment, Sara’s passport disappeared. Then she went back to the mountains. Later, the friend who was staying at the place where Sara was staying found Sara’s passport; it turned out that it had fallen in the gap between the seats. Sara didn’t want to go. Then the friends informed her that they had found her passport. Then she came and got her visa.
She didn’t want to leave until the last day. She wanted to take a plane from Silêmanî and wrote me a letter the day before she left. Before boarding the plane, she gave it to a friend with the words: “Bring this to Heval Metin.” I still have the letter with me. For example, I would like to read the part about this story.
“As you know, the work in this area is very demanding, it is a very varied, very difficult area of work. In the previous procedures I did not go of my own accord or it was not an area I preferred. But this time neither my mind nor my body nor the current atmosphere allow me to go. I don’t want to leave, it suffocates my soul to the brim. We’ll see what will happen. But it doesn’t look like it’s very promising. I’ve always felt it.”
Sara was a woman with a very strong intuition. She sensed something terrible was going to happen before she left.”
If I could turn back time, I would tell her not to go
Heval Metîn explained that Heval Sara had written the letter on July 3, 2012 and that this was the last letter he had received from her and that six months before she was killed she felt something was about to happen. He further said:
“She felt like nothing good was going to happen to her. But of course she went. Sara was a woman from an organization, her organization had been there, she didn’t want to leave, but she did and the great pain we know was inflicted on us.
I was very upset after this incident. There is a tormented voice here: “I don’t want to go, nothing good will happen there”. She sensed it six months in advance. After this incident, of course, this has taken on greater importance. If we went back to that day, I would probably tell her not to go.
Heval Sara’s loss is not easy to replace
Sara’s murder has affected everyone deeply. A great loss, a loss not easy to replace.
As you know, after Sara’s assassination, we witnessed a new massacre that occurred on the 10th anniversary of her assassination. It’s not a coincidence. On the anniversary of Sara’s martyrdom, a new massacre was committed against the women who followed in Sara’s footsteps, the friends who participated in this organization.
Even after her martyrdom, the enemy still fears Heval Sara
You see, the enemy is very persistent. They say that even if we honor our Şehîds, they will conquer us. They can’t even bear the memory of Sara. They made that bloody too. No one can convince us that this French racist is not influenced or directed by something that he did of his own accord, or that he is not directed from a center. Why was such a massacre committed against the Kurds, perpetrated against the representatives, collaborators and sympathizers of the Kurdish movement who had a certain education, worldview, discipline, goal or who did not engage in any activity that would harm France or themselves even oppose it? It is clear that this was organized and directed by MIT, that they found and prepared such a person who cannot be directly attributed to them. You can’t even discuss that.
Those who do evil to this movement will experience their wrath
They committed this massacre because they couldn’t bear it and didn’t want to be reminded of Sara over and over again. No matter what they do, Sara will be avenged and the attacks on Sara’s followers will definitely be brought to justice. Nobody should fool themselves.
This movement will not leave unanswered any attack against it, its leader, sympathizers or members. They will not forget any evil done to them. Everyone should know that. Anyone who does evil to this movement will suffer their wrath. Not today, not tomorrow, 10 years later, 100 years later, no problem. You will feel that anger.
Those who murdered Sara may feel successful. You can say that you have achieved something. But they are not spared from paying for it. They will be held accountable even in the grave. The PKK is one such movement. You can’t joke with the PKK. This is not how you play with the PKK, this is not how you weaken the PKK. Whoever plays with the PKK in this way will pay the price. That’s how it should be.”
Source: Nûçe Ciwan